Date:11/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/11/stories/2008031155841800.htm

Sport - Sports : General

Sports policy: stalemate persists

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Despite having fixed February 29 as the date for a meeting with the Union Sports Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, to discuss the draft National Sports Policy, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the National Sports Federations (NSFs) failed to attend it.

Mr. Aiyar told mediapersons on Monday that he had a satisfactory meeting with sports personalities Kapil Dev, P. T. Usha, Dinesh Khanna and Pargat Singh on February 29.

“They (IOA) chose Feb 29, but 48 hours before that they said it was budget day and they can’t come,” Mr. Aiyar said.

Mr. Aiyar said that everyone knew well before that the budget would be presented in Parliament on the last day of February.

Two other scheduled meetings between the IOA and NSFs and the ministry had failed to come off before the top office bearers of the IOA met the ministry officials here on January 28 and decided to form a working group to go into the contentious issues in the policy. On that occasion the IOA had lamented the absence of the minister.